zaterdag 10 maart 2012

Thought I'd share my latest creation and how it came to the world. I'm going to skip to the end, here it is!

For a while I had been making stock for my Etsy shop, with the sole intent of filling it up a little more, creating bracelets, earrings, things not too expensive so they would actually sell.
But every time I opened my box of amber all these shiny big nuggets were staring at me.
And I still wanted to make a match for my big raw bracelet which has been my personal favourite and the eye-catcher in my shop. It needed a fitting companion.
Not for now I thought. Not these stones. Not now..
And last week finally it was too much, and out came the stones, sandpaper, dremel, all in a big heap.

After 3 evenings of patiently sanding (starting with 400 grain, then 600, 800, 1200 and finally 2000) I was sort of happy. Then the polishing had to be done, this is such a grateful job, this is when the stones start to really shine! I apply a bit of special wax for amber to the stones so they will be protected and keep their shine for quite a while, wonderful effect!
And then the drilling has to be done, most carefully otherwise they crack!
Also there were a few stones with insect & moss inclusions, which are very valuable. You do NOT want to drill to close to these!

This spider and fly have been trapped in these stones for 40 million years..imagine..Granted, they are not the famous lizard in Amber which is on display in the amber museum in Gdansk, but all the same pretty special.
I had some discussion with my wife on adding these stones to the necklace, but I figured that if you are making a special necklace, you should not hold back. These just add to the beautiful majesty of the piece, just as below, moss entrapped pieces.

But I am deviating.. After spending 5 evenings and a day with the stones I was finally ready to string them up. On hemp. I like amber on hemp, it keeps it natural. And you can knot it easily, so the stones have space. These ones certainly needed space, every single one is beautiful. With the heap I had I needed multiple strings, to make it a full, majestic piece.

So, string them up I did. 4 strings full of gorgeous stones. 107 grams in total. Considering the weight of amber a huge amount. My bracelet weights 1/3rd of that..
The end of the strings I wrapped with more hemp for solidity, and put a shiny, big stone on one end for a button-closure, the other end was strung in a loop, and now it is done, finally. It is as beautiful as I had in my head. And a fitting companion for my bracelet. Over 50 stones, total length 59 centimeter (23 inch) the biggest stones are 1 1/2 inches long. It is absolutely beautiful, fit for a princess.